Declaration (Translation) (Original: French)With regard to article 3 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, the Government of the Republic of the Congo declares that the minimum age at which it permits voluntary enlistment into the armed forces and national gendarmerie is eighteen (18) years in the case of the army and twenty (20) years in the case of the gendarmerie (see article 4 of Act No.17-61 of 16 January 1961 on the organization of andrecruitment into the armed forces of the Republic of the Congo).

The Government of the Republic of the Congo further sets forth below the safeguards it has adopted to ensure that such recruitment is not forced or coerced: (a) The procedure for recruitment into the armed forces of the Congo and the national gendarmerie shall be initiated through an advertisement addressed to young men and women in the press and the national media; (b) Applications shall include a birth certificate, a certificate of school attendance and/or apprenticeship certificate; (c) The induction ceremony of the young recruits shall be held in public, at a sports field or other similar venue; (d) All the recruits shall undergo a thorough medical examination.